Swedes

So, I finally got around to visiting Flavors, the only Swedish restaurant in Taiwan apart from Ikea, which I don’t really think counts. They’ve just opened at a new location and the place was small ,but cozy and well decorated, although it didn’t look particularly Swedish. The dinner tonight was arranged by the Swedish Trade Council here in Taiwan and there was about 20 people or so in total, most of them other Swedes.

The selection of dishes aren’t really representative of Sweden, as Ola, the chef and owner, does his own little thing, but the meatballs looked authentic enough. I ordered the warm smoked salmon salad for starters while Brenda got the Italian mushroom sallad. The menu differs slightly from the one on the website, so there might be some difference choices when you get there. For main course I went with the venison & hasselback potato with juniper game sauce, while Brenda decided to go for the prime beef & potato tower with green pepper sauce & garlic butter.

First we got some freshly baked bread with tapenade, although not being a big fan of olives, this wasn’t really for me and the bread has some peculiar flavour, but you could tell it was very fresh. Then we got some pumpkin soup – which for some reason seem very popular with restaurants in Taiwan – which was ok, but nothing spectacular.

The venison on the other hand was very tender and cooked just right, although I only got one hasselback potato which I think was a bit stingy considering that what I ordered was well over NT$1,200. Brenda’s steak came with more potato and was also very good and had a nice sauce with it and came in at under NT$1,000. Of course tips and tax wasn’t included in the price.

The dessert was some kind of apple cake from the southern parts of Sweden in a light vanilla sauce, all quite tasty, but the sauce could’ve done with a bit stronger flavouring. All in all with drinks, the tab ended up at close to NT$3,000 which is a bit steep considering what we ate and neither portion was huge. I will be going back as the food was tasty, although I think I’ll go for the veal chops & truffle mashed potato with truffle sauce, as I saw someone else eating at it was a good helping of mash and four veal chops, which looked like a lot more food than the two pieces of venison I had and it was slightly cheaper. The meatballs also looked ok, but also seemed quite expensive, considering how easy and cheap they are to make.

Flavors is a place for when you want to eat something out of the ordinary in Taipei, but it’s not cheap. Of course, it all comes down to your budget, although I might have to go back and check out the supper club at some stage as well.

You can find out more by visiting their website or giving them a call at 02-2709 6525. The map below shows where they are, it’s not that hard to find, it’s about a 5 min walk from NY Bagel and they have a big sign outside. Just don’t talk too loud outside or the upstairs neighbours will come down and complain 😉